valley glacier
Alpine frozen river
A valley glacier is a glacier that flows downward through a mountain valley, confined by the valley walls on either side.
These rivers of ice carve U-shaped valleys as they move, deepening and widening the terrain over millennia.
Valley glaciers are distinguished from ice sheets or ice caps, which spread outward in all directions rather than following existing topography.
- cirqueGlacier-carved mountain basin
- roche moutonnéeGlacier-polished bedrock knob
- crevasseDeep glacial fissure
- tarnGlacial mountain pool
- seracGlacial ice pinnacle
firn · fjord · arête · cold-adapted species · permafrost · moraine · drumlin · tundra biome · snowpack · ice age · precipitation · global warming · ice flow · névé · meltwater · eskers · cryosphere · carbon cycle
- frozen landstundra, iceberg, ice sheet, ice cap, ice field
- glacierscrevasse, moraine, iceberg, firn, ice shelves
- Ice formationsice sheet, ice cap, ice shelf, pack ice, sea ice
- landformsmountain, cliff, volcano, mountain ridge, hill
- glacial landformsfjord, cirque, moraine, tarn, aretes
- polar iceiceberg, ice sheet, ice cap, ice floe, Greenland ice sheet
valley glaciermountain peak
Topmost point of elevation
ridge · desert · volcanic cone · mesa · butte
valley, glacier, valleys, vale, vales, glacial, glaciers, glaciate, glaciated